2015-06-11 - What the heck just happened?
The gym is open, with a group of youths just leaving while they talk about waffles and whether or not Jim is going to marry Sue next door. Whoever that is. Probably unrelated to the plot...anyway! The place isn't busy, with only a couple people left at the moment. Neither of which is Ted Grant, unfortunately. Sorry to let you down. Nope, there's an instructor teaching one middle-aged lady pole dancing who looks like she's about to drop, but seems pretty happy overall. There's also a girl on the parallel bars. Wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top, the asian girl looks pretty good. She's currently in the middle of a routine of some sort, hands clasped to the lower bar as she flips over and over it, pausing at each summit to balance for a half second. It looks almost rhythmic. A blonde girl walks in and is greeted by the instructor if possible. She fills out her necessary information if that's needed, not sure if it is, and takes a look around. She smiles at the pole dancing and eventually finds her eway over to the girl on the parallen bars, not wanting to interrupt. It does look pretty cool though. Cassandra, given the opportunity to show off a little for an audience, is happy to do so. She gets up some real momentum and catches her waist on the upper bar, going fully bent over, then rebounds and rotates around the lower one. She flips up, letting go of the bar, and does a full reversal in mid-air! Then she catches the bar backwards and goes under, up, and pauses on the vertical again. Then she just...gets down with a little flip and walks away, dusting her hands. Cassie Lang applauds opennly, jumping at the spectacle of gymnastics! That's some olympic shit right there! "That was absolutely the best thing I've seen in weeks!" Pause. "I mean, um, that's really, can I start over? I thought you were pretty awesome up there." She motions to the bars with a grin. Without pausing, Cass walks past the girl to get herself some water. She slugs some back, then turns suddenly while holding the half-empty bottle and looks Cassie over. She seems to be inspecting the girl, who is apparently slightly taller than her. Then she nods, waving at the bars and says, "Try?" Apparently she's serious, because she walks back to the uneven bars and motions to the chalk you use to help your hands grip. Her eyes keep looking the blonde over from head to toe, as if there's something she's looking for. Cassie Lang blinks as she watches the girl walk by. Well, not the first time she's dealt with people who are pretty focused. She follows to the bars, then says with a smile, "I'm not really dressed for it yet. Should I be using them right away? It does look like you could seriously kill yourself without proper instruction." Still, she takes off her duster and tosses it aside, then gets her some chalk. Hell if she's going to turn down a challenge! Course that is when 'Jay' enters the gym quietly. The one instructor looking after the wannabe pole dancer raises a hand in greeting, it has been a while since the had seen each other, but Jay's constant red hoodie is a familiar sight. He smells of smoke, but put his cigarette out on the sidewalk so not to piss off Grant this time around. And a little squatty bulldog comes running across the gym and sliding into Jay's leg. Jay grunts, "Socker." He reaches down to ruffle the dog's ears. He has a Gotham City street accent now instead of the New Yorker accent, but his words shouldn't be able to carry across the room just yet. Still, he notices his targets, and makes a point not to get too close to them. Cassandra shrugs at the questions, her usual answer being to say nothing. It's a very chinese thing to do, really. Still, she just seems like she doesn't talk much. "Up," she says with her gravelly voice, glancing over her shoulder at the arrival and rolling her eyes -immediately-. Then gets back to what she's doing. "No....flips. Just try. What you...can." She stays close enough that if Cassie falls on her head she won't hit the floor. Too hard. A lady would never just jump up and grab the bar, or start doing random pull-ups on it. Dang good thing that Cassie Lang wasn't raised to be no lady! She hops up (it's higher than she'd expected) and snags the bar firmly in both hands, doing a couple chin-ups for the hell of it. Then she starts swinging, not smiling. Focusing a bit actually. "No idea how you do those...how you get that momentum." She sticks her legs up on the up-swing, touching the upper bar with her shins. A shake of Jay's head, but he heads over to some benches nearby and sits down, red hoodie still pulled up over his head and his bangs dyed black so Cassie won't realize he has a white mark in his hair. The dog annoyingly follows after him and Jay aims to ignore it now, though it likes to sit on Jay's foot and pant happily. Cass motions to Jason, or the guy with the dog who is like as to a ninja. Of course. She'd never suggest otherwise. Still, her attention should probably be on the girl. She looks back at the swinging kid and shakes her head, wondering if a sigh would be out of place. Lifting her head, she hops up on a ladder beside the bars and grabs Cassie's foot. She guides it OVER the upper bar, then says, "This. Motion of swing, then arms. Pull." She frowns slightly as she watches the girl, then peers more closely at her face. "Stop." Finding her feet guided, Cassie does a full over the bar with it on her stomach. Not much of a flip, just a roll really. She grins, then when told to stop she comes down and lowers herself to the floor. Not too hard, honestly. "That was kinda fun. Like playing on the monkey bars." She doesn't see Jay yet. You paged Red Hood with 'Should I be waiting for you hon?' Red Hood pages: Nope, go ahead, I'll interject as needed. The new girl finds her wrist captured by the asian girl's hand in a solid grip, leading her toward the treadmill. "Test," Cassandra says bluntly, her face giving Cassie the barest hint of warmth. So not a lot. She leads the girl thattaway, then pokes at the controls of the machine. Motions Cassie to get onto it. She's not being her usual sociable warm self for some reason. And Jay is struggling not to snicker. He never told Cassie it would be easy working with Cass, and gave the young girl absolutely NO warning of what it was like to work for the quiet woman. He didn't even tell Cassie that her new instructor barely spoke. He's a rat bastard for that. But it's kind of cute, seeing the energetic Cassie being dragged about by Cass like a little puppy being trained how to be a good girl. Cassie Lang yerks as she's taken. Reminds her of training with Black Widow in the gym at the mansion. Jeez. "Do I get a name, at least?" she asks the drill instructor as she gets onto the treadmill. In her street shoes too. Then is immediately jogging. "Don't kill me, I was just supposed to find someone for a talk." Cass turns the treadmill to 'barely on' in her terms. So a decent jogging speed for the new girl. Whatever. "If you...want one," she answers. Silly question. Who'd want a name anyway? English was always a dumb language. She mentally dubs the new girl 'heart attack girl' and watches carefully to see how bad the problem she's picking up on is. Turns the thing up a notch. Hey, she wanted a name. Cassie Lang jogs, starting to breathe harder. She can't really talk so well with most of her lung capacity being taken up by exercise. "Not....what I....meant," she says, breathing between words. Sort of. She's in that zone where you're able to talk but not very well, and is wishing she'd come in her workout pants. "Do I...pay for...this?" She is starting to get a little lightheaded though. This is the daughter of an Avenger? Least that is what Jason suspects. He rolls his eyes, not realizing she has a heart condition like Cass likely does. He goes to pull out his ciggs, but then puts them back away with a grunt. Socker looks up at him and he looks down at the stray dog he gave Grant and grumbles, "What you lookin' at mutt?" Cass glances back at Jason, then motions him over if he'll come. She reaches and pulls the plug on the treadmill, forcing it to stop, and lets the girl cool down. "Enough," she says, being much more gentle as she pulls the kid down from the walky thing. Real treadmills should do forty. "How long...have you had..." and she points at Cassie's chest. Right on the heart. Her eyes are tight and analyzing, as she looks at Cassie without mercy. Need to know the history. Cassie Lang holds onto the bars a second, getting herself together. "I normally...just do weights," she says, frowning as she gets off the treadmill. "I can do pretty decently on those, but I avoid cardio because it has the real possibility of KILLING ME. Which you'd know if you'd read the paper I wrote my medical conditions on when I came into the building." She stands up straight, facing off against Cassandra Cain without backing down. She's in the right here! "And if it matters, all my life. I was born with a heart issue. It's not going away, so I adapt." Alright, Jason is easedropping and raises a palm to smack it to his face. 1. Cass can't read and 2. Not even Jason thought to check that paper out, not like he filled one out. Tony wants someone with a heart condition to learn how to properly fight, for real?! Jay just shakes his head in disbelief, he....just shakes his head. Socker whines as he lays on Jay's right foot, as if knowing something is wrong. Cassandra nods at the answers. Makes sense. Okay. She turns toward Jason, then taking from his body language that this is, in fact, the girl he mentioned, she says over her shoulder, "Do you...think so?" She's thinking on this one, never being one to back down from a challenge. A glance at Cassie tells her that she's in no immediate danger, but she probably shouldn't dive onto the climbing wall or anything. Yet. She waves at Cassie, motioning toward the...snack bar? Cassie Lang shakes her head, having no clue even if this is the girl she's supposed to find yet! "Are you Cassandra?" she asks, outright, as she follows the girl toward the snack bar. Maybe her problem is that she hasn't been direct enough. "I'm not hungry at the moment. Look, I came here to find a teacher." Her eyes flicker up to Jay suddenly, looking right at him. Finally, thought she'd never look around the room. Jay has the hoodie up still, and gives a bit of a wave toward Cass and Cassie, but he doesn't get up from the bench to join them. Anyway, he would have to kick the dog if he did that. Though the guy that was working with the pole dancer wannabe comes over to chat up Jay for a bit. The two seem to know each other. Cassandra Cain snaps her fingers to get Cassie's attention again. Loudly. "Cassandra. Yes." She admits to it, not really one for the drama or drawing things out. "You are...also Cassandra. Do not waste...a good name." She grabs a scone from the snack bar, then turns immediately toward an area with nothing in it but mats. If Cassie comes along or not, her choice. But she's done talking about it. Cassie Lang gets a sip of water from the tap, then follows. Not 100 sure she saw Jay at all, might be some other guy who looks like him, but she's not good at coincidences. Seen too many plots go ass over teakettle in her life. Still, this is getting interesting. Whoever Cassandra is, she spotted the heart condition just by LOOKING at her. That's not a joke. She follows. The asian girl motions to the mats, then holds out the scone. "Take a bite," she directs. Then she steps onto the mats herself and lifts her hands. A motion of her head toward the wrists, suggesting that Cassie do what she's doing. If she's smart enough to figure it out. Which isn't a given at this point. Cassie Lang takes the scone, then takes a bite. She chews, enjoying. Not bad. "What...oh. Okay." Tosses the rest of the thing aside for now, then sticks her hands up, waiting to be told what this is all about. "I do some basic self defense, is this a blocking set?" She does a LOT of basic self defense, but that's not important to talk about really. Cassandra touches her wrists to Cassie's, ignoring the questions. Not important nor relevant. She says, "Butterfly dance," then pushes gently against Cassie's wrists with her own. "Butterfly between...our wrists. Do not...kill it," she emphasizes the point by pressing HARD against Cassie's wrist, then says, "do not let it...get away." And she makes a gap, which would let the imaginary butterfly free. Then she starts pressing against her wrists, making her body move into a simple flowing water set. Cassie Lang gets the idea quickly. Cass is pretty good at teaching, and it's not all verbal. Given the fact that there's also subtle motions that help lead her into it and nudge her into doing it RIGHT, she's quickly moving and swaying and doing blocks from her defence sets that make Cassandra have to lean back to avoid them. Butterfly dance. Sounds pretty. Jay actually perks up as Cassandra starts teaching. And he can't help it, he smiles just a bit and falls silent instead of gossiping with the instructor. Though even the instructor falls silent and watches. Cassandra is known for being quiet and anti-social, rarely anyone bothers with her at the gym as they know better. So to see her take someone under her wing is...flabberghasting to the intructor. To Jay? It...almost feels good. He lost his chance when he died. But Cassandra, she still has a chance for all those good feelings. All this time, that bite of scone is doing its magic too. It wasn't for no reason, and while Cass is, yes, making Cassie do her defense set in slow motion against an opponent you can't actually 'beat' in this kind of exercise. It's not about that, it's about feeling what the other person's body is doing, and feeling your own balance. What's happening to your body inside. And there's the kicker. She watches for the scone to travel through the girl's throat, into her body, and lets her elbow tap gently at the girl's body as it falls. So fast it's basically invisible, but she's just...enhancing the feeling. Making that simple, lifelong feeling of 'eating' become noticeable. While doing a martial form that's all about being self-aware. At the same time, because she's THAT DAMN GOOD, she's also guiding Cassie into some more appropriate block forms. Because damn, she sucks at this. Cassie Lang gulps a little as she gets this odd feeling. Like things are being strange. She leans forward, backward, and lets her feet start to move a little as she tries to overbalance Cassandra. Not happening. It's lke overbalancing a waterfall. She notices strange, odd sensations from all areas, not really sure what she's supposed to be doing so much at this point. And after a bit, she steps right back and just looks confused. Jay tilts his head at the two of them. Interesting....something he would have learned in meditation, Cass makes it interactive. He has not seen anything like it before. He finally tugs his hoodie down, revealing his wild black hair, and his face. He grins lopsided at the other instructor, and makes an off-hand comment. The other instructor laughs and shakes his head, holding palms out, because he totally doesn't go for girls. Cassandra Cain lets the girl step back, having been waiting for her to do it. She nods, then turns and walks away. "Come back...tomorrow," she says, with no explanation at all for any of that. She just lets the sensations percolate in the kid, and goes toward Jay to look at his hair, with her eyes grinning even if her mouth isn't. Cassie Lang opens her mouth to ask. Seriously. What the f? She looks at Jay, not any more clear on what just happened, and opens her hands to ask silently. What? Huh? No white locks for his bangs, awwww. But Jay then finally stands up, toeing Socker off his foot which makes the dog bark at him. "Hey little sis," Jay says, not with the New Yorker accent he has around Tony and Cassie in the past, but with a Gothamite accent. "Think she has any potential with the...complication?" Jay's cool blue eyes lift to look over to Cassie. He seems even more deadly in this environment than the lab, like he wears it as a cape about him. Troubled, dangerous...broken. But then a lazy smile curls about Jay's mouth as he looks back at Cassandra with a slightly softer expression, but not something that is a huge difference. Cassandra Cain looks at Jason dryly, her expression a more eloquent answer than a hundred words. Basically, 'do you think I'd be wasting my time on her if I couldn't fix everything? I'm the best.' Not a word, though. She looks around, taps her earpiece she's been wearing this whole time, and then walks out the front door. After giving Jason's hand a squeeze. Nothing for Cassie. She'll have to do with her own self for now. Jay can't help it, he rolls his eyes. "Show-off," reading the expression perfectly for once. Though he swallows at the hand squeeze as he watches Cass leave to go join 'the family'. He sighs and raises a hand afterwards to rub the back of his neck, rolling his head as if to get rid of stiffness. "So, what do you think of my little sis Cassie?" The instructor says in a higher pitched voice than one would expect from such a well built man, "Now Jay, don't you go corrupting any of the little girls. You know Grant wouldn't approve." "Ya, ya, not touching her with a ten foot pole, she's my boss's neice," Jay adds with a snort. "Alright, alright." But the man then says, "Welcome to Grant's Gym girl, and I gotta be going, my next lesson is here. Let me know if you want to havea fun on the dancing pole," winking at Cassie before he departs. And yep...only the blind wouldn't realize that the pole dancing instructor is a-typical gay. Cassie Lang wanders up behind Cassandra, watching her leave. She looks at Jay, then says, "She's....um...something else. I'll give you that, Jay." She gulps, getting an odd feeling in her esophagus, and sips water again. "I don't think I really know what to say. You sure she's the instructor for me?" She looks at him, eyeing his hair. Because hair. She waves to the gay instructor, grinning at him. He seems cool. "Not doing pole dancing though. I gotta find someone who'll teach me to fight." Hey, it's just black hair, all black hair. Jay nods, "She's the best, and even noticed something I didn't know about you," apparently he picked up on that. "If anyone can teach you and keep you alive, she can." He glances toward the now closed door, then back to Cassie, "Ready to be taken back home?" This isn't the safest neighborhood, and apparently Jay has taken it on him to watch after the girl. Cassie Lang nods, picking up her duster. "Probably should, and it's a long drive. Gotham City, I mean....I might nap in the car a little." She shakes her head, not sure how to make this make sense. Well, hope it comes around in time. "You have wierd friends, Jay." Not that that's a bad thing. Look who she hangs around with? "Sure, it's one of Stark's cars anyway," and he grins, having stolen it. "But it's a few blocks away hidden away form site so it doesn't get hijacked. I'll pull it up front ot pick you up, wait in here till you see it." But Jay chuckles, "I don't have friends Cassie. I got one really fucked up family that sometimes wants to kill each other or at least beat each other senseless." Jay then moves to take his leave to go fetch the car so he can pick up Cassie. Most of the gangsters leave Grant's Gym alone, but there is always that 'risk'. Most of them don't want to mess with the old boxing champ, Grant is known to be BRUTAL. Cassie Lang waits for the car and hops in when it comes around. "This is one of Uncle Tony's," she says, grinning as she puts her feet up on the dash. "He'd kill us both if he knew you had it." Doesn't stop her from having her feet up though. Jay laughs at that, "He would be impressed I stole it from under him." He is then taking off once Cassie gets settled and moves through the neighborhood like he knows it better than the back of his hand. He is heading out of Gotham City, past Bludhaven and toward New York City.